Be innovative; enhance nursing education – Lawrence to Nursing Council

While delivering the charge to the newly installed General Nursing Council of Guyana (GNCG), Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence urged the Councillors to enhance the education of nurses while being innovative to advance and improve the standards of the nursing profession.

“I want you to breathe new life into the Council and don’t take what is there and believe that is the way we have to continue to operate. Make suggestions. Perhaps we need to make some changes to the laws and regulations so that we can be able to move to that level that we all wants to move towards,” Lawrence said.
The Minister said the Ministry’s primary objective is to advance nursing education in Guyana and to ensure that a corps of quality and competent nurses is produced. She added that it is also the right of healthcare workers to enjoy the highest quality of care and be comfortable in their working environment. Lawrence further stated that the Council and the Ministry need to work in unison to ensure they achieve the objective of improving the profession.
She said the theme for International Nurses’ Day, “A voice to lead, health is a human right” presents the opportunity for the Council to push for the nurses to ensure better healthcare delivery. She advised the Council to not only sit and have meetings, but rather they should go into the working environment to see the conditions nurses are working in and what prohibits them from doing their job effectively and efficiently.
“As members of the Council you have to work assiduously to empower our nurses. You have the authority and voice under the law to make sure their needs are met. The nurses come first and must be comfortable, they too are entitled to good health and wellbeing before they can demonstrate care and comfort to our citizens. I am urging you Councillors to listen to their issues and respond with care and compassion as you exercise the functions of your office,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence also called on the Council to take the task of nurses’ registration much more seriously, highlighting that they should be satisfied before any candidate is registered.
“Don’t register any and every person. You analyse and be very careful that those people meet the criteria because if we put garbage in, we will get garbage out, so let us ensure whatever we put our pen to those persons are sound, that they are qualified and that they meet all requirements in order to be registered,” she said.
Additionally, the Minister also urged the newly installed Council to ensure the Hinterland and remote areas are included in the decision-making process.
Meanwhile, GNCG’s Registrar Donette Kellman said to date, some 2669 persons would have renewed their licence to practice in Guyana.
Meanwhile, Chief Nursing Officer and Chairperson of the newly installed Council, Nurse Linda Johnson, pledged their support towards enhancing the nursing profession. She noted that they plan to remain visible in the execution of their mandate, while retuning Guyana to his former glory and the leader in the nursing profession.
The Council came into being on March 26, 1954, with a view to have a body of members from the registered nurse category to look into practice of nursing in then British Guiana. The Council comprises of 15 members with six being nominated by the Public Health Minister and eight others appointed following an election process. The Chief Nursing Officer is appointed as the chairperson of the Council and the life of the Council spans three years.
The Nursing Council is responsible for conducting examinations for registration of nurses, midwives and nursing assistants; establishing and improving education standards and practices; maintaining a professional register; conducting hearings to determine whether practitioners should be removed from the register because of misconduct or illness; and prosecuting those who falsely claim to be qualified nurses, midwives or nursing assistants.